Animal protection

The aim of animal welfare work is to ensure the good treatment and well-being of animals and to monitor the legality of animal husbandry. Animal welfare supervision is based on the Animal Welfare Act (693/2023).

In the Hamina, Kotka, Miehikkälä, Pyhtää and Virolahti areas, animal welfare supervision tasks are mainly carried out by the area's joint supervisory veterinarians. 

Surveillance veterinarians monitor compliance with animal protection legislation based on suspicion and without suspicion in professionally operating animal holdings in accordance with the surveillance plan. Outside of office hours, town veterinarians and the police also conduct surveillance.

Animal welfare notices

You can contact animal welfare authorities if you suspect that animals are being mistreated or cared for inadequately.

Animal welfare notifications are requested to be made primarily by email to the following address: elainsuojelu@hamina.fi. 

In urgent cases, you can report the animal by calling the Veterinary Inspector at tel. 040 199 1538. If you cannot reach us, you can leave a message on the answering machine. 

The notification must include the following:

• exact address of the destination
• name and phone number of the destination (if known)
• a brief description of the situation

In urgent animal protection cases in the evenings, weekends and holidays, you should contact the police first (tel. 112) and secondarily the town veterinarian on duty (tel. 0600 144 99).

The contact information of the person making the animal protection report is treated as confidential and will not be disclosed to the person making the report.

Dog barking, disputes related to the animal trade and matters that cause harm to other people are not covered by animal welfare supervision. If keeping animals causes health problems, you should contact the health inspector and if the animal poses a danger to people, you should contact the police. In the event of problems with order, you should primarily try to reach an agreement with the person causing the disturbance or the housing company. If the animal poses an immediate danger to people, contact the police on 112.

Animal Welfare Inspection

The competent authorities in animal welfare matters are the supervisory veterinarian, town veterinarians and the police, all of whom have the legal right to conduct animal welfare inspections.

Inspections are carried out in order of urgency. Due to confidentiality, information about the animal welfare inspection will not be disclosed to the person who reported the inspection.